ZOOMING AROUND THE CENTRAL PARSEC: Gravitational Waves from Glactic Nuclei Shane L. Larson, Center for Gravitational Wave Physics, Penn State Galactic nuclei are energetic domains which harbor large stellar populations and whose dynamics are often dominated by the presence of massive black holes. Observing nuclear star clusters in the electromagnetic spectrum is possible, but resolving individual stellar encounters with the central black hole is difficult at best. By contrast, low frequency gravitational waves generated by the close encounters of small objects with massive black holes will propogate freely out of galactic nuclei, carry information about the region very near to the horizon of the black hole, and should be visible to the proposed LISA observatory. In this talk I will discuss ongoing efforts to understand the dynamics of the innermost galactic stellar population, convince you that "zooming" is a technical term, and describe some of our early predictions of what we should be able to observe with a space-based gravitational wave observatory.